Weapons

Reproduction Civil War weapons are expensive and the number of merchants or 'sutlers' and the variety of their wares can be bewildering. The following information is provided for our recruits and other interested historians.

To begin living history with Company A, 79th NY, you do not need to purchase anything. The company has some weapons for loan to outfit new recruits. It is recommended that you wait to purchase a musket until you've asked the 'old salts' all the questions in your head and done your own research.

Model 1816 .69 Cal Smoothbore Flintlock Musket

The U.S. Goverment had large numbers of Model 1816 .69 cal Flintlock Smoothbore Muskets "converted" from using Flintlock ignition to Percussion ignition prior to the Civil War. The process of conversion was performed at the US Armories by gunsmiths who removed the Flintlock parts, filled in the gaps with metal and solder, bored a threaded hole for the cone or nipple and installed a cone and hammer appropriate for percussion caps. Detail of an orignal conversion musket can be viewed here. These weapons had no rifling and were loaded through their muzzels by the soldier. .69 cal smoothbore muskets fired two types of rounds. The first was called a "Ball Round" and consisted simply of a round lead ball of approximately .65 cal, the second was called "Buck and Ball" and consisted of the same .65 cal round ball but with the addition of three smaller lead balls of .32 caliber. It was considered that these weapons had an effective range of less than 100 yards due to their lack of rifling. The 79th NY was originally issued weapons of this type by New York State and then turned them in for other smoothbore conversion muskets of reportedly even worse quality by the Federal Government shortly before the First Battle of Bull Run. They carried these weapons through their campaigns of 1862 and out to Mississippi in 1863.

Pattern 1853 .577 Cal Enfield Rifle-Musket

Pattern 1853 Enfield Rifle-Muskets were produced in England and imported for both the Federal and Confederate Armies during the Civil War. The Pattern 1853 was a .577 Cal Rifle-Musket, it was loaded through the muzzel but it had rifling cut into its barrel and used a projectile called a Minie Ball that was a conical shaped bullet of soft lead with a hollow base. The rifling in the barrel was engaged when the soft Minie Ball's base expanded during firing and imparted a spin to the bullet. This gave much greater accuracy and an effective range of over 300 yards. When the 79th NY arrived in Mississippi shortly after the fall of Vicksburg, the entire regiment was rearmed with surrendered Confederate Pattern 1853 Enfield Rifle-Muskets. They used them to great effect in defense of Fort Sanders in November of 1863 and carried them through their remaining service until they were mustered out in May of 1864. This is the preferred weapon for Company A of the 79th/99 NY.